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Lunch | Maine Beer Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
Our “East Coast” version of a West Coast-style IPA. Intense hop flavors and aromas of tropical and citrus fruits and pine dominate. A subtle malt sweetness brings the beer into balance.

Lunch is a special whale that has been spotted off the Maine coast since 1982. She has what looks like a bite taken out of her fin, which adds to her unique character. We dedicate this beer to her determination and persistence.

Pours a deep brass/golden with a finger of off white head, depositing spotty lacing as it slinks down. Body is mostly clear, with a lightly frosted "haze". It's pretty clear.

Nose: A definite melding together of East and West Coast aspects. The base of this beer is entirely West Coast. Some fair boil hopping as well. Then you have the actual hops, giving lots of classic pine and citrus notes, but mixed in with some dry hopped more modern juicy nuance. Hints of peach, pineapple, mango, and grassy/onion notes. It's weired and confusing, and brings the best aromas from both coasts.

Palate: Opens with sweet caramel malt, peach, bitter pine, and grapefruit rind. The bitterness is punchy, and comes in quick. Then the dry/late hopped notes come through with juiciness, tropical fruit, black pepper, and brings lemon and orange zest into the finish, with some grassy Mosaic, berries, and pine. Bitterness disappears, and everything turns chalky dry and clean.

Mouthfeel/Body: Mouthfeel is full, slightly soft, slightly sticky, with both malt sugars and lots of hop oils. Effervescence is medium in feel, aeration size, and aggression. 7% shows its weight.

Overall: I think this is great. I'm not one for old school or West Coast IPAs, but this isn't that. It's a hybrid IPA. A Lerighft Coast IPA. West Coast malt. West Coast hops. West Coast hopping style. But East Coast yeast, East Coast hops, anf East Coast hopping styles, all with a bitterness somewhere in between. This is amazing with food. Lunch is an appropriate name (yeah yeah, Lunch is a whale with a gimpy fin). It just pairs so well. Its flavorful, and can contrast or highlight many flavors. It's light enough to eat with. It's a little sweet, a little bitter, and lots of floral and fruity notes. It's just one you have to try to understand. Go have some lunch.

Very nice IPA. Poured from bottle to tumbler. One finger of white foam sits on top of orangish liquid. A bit of chill haze. Nice aromas of citrus and pine. Flavor hits with juicy tropical fruits first, with a grapefruit and mandarin finish. Nice feel, medium and a bit velvety.